Intentions to Marry, 1895 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840408, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, June 11 2025

1895 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 275

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1895

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
326	5 September 1895	Henry Edward Mansfield Margaret Agnes Spein	Henry Edward Mansfield Margaret Agnew 💍 1895/1291	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor Cost.	27 27	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 1 month	St. Luke's Church	95/2625		5 September 1895	Ven. Arch. Lingard, Church of England
327	5 September 1895	Edwin Samuel Rainbow Amy Goodwin	Edwin Samuel Rainbow Amy Goodwin 💍 1895/2593	Bachelor Spinster	Traveller Saleswoman	25 27	Christchurch Christchurch	11 years 1 year	House of Mr. W. Rainbow, Falsgrave Street	95/4071		5 September 1895	Mr. A. K. Worthington, Student of Truth
328	9 September 1895	James Gilmour Cathcart Catherine Elizabeth Smith	James Gilmore Catharine Elizabeth Smith 💍 1895/1624	Bachelor Spinster	Maltster Housekeeper	27 21	Christchurch Christchurch	18 years 10 years	Roman Catholic Church, Barbadoes Street	95/2951		9 September 1895	Rev. G. A. Galerne, Roman Catholic
329	10 September 1895	Henry Francis Smith Marion Maud Noonan	Henry Francis Smith Marion Maud Noonan 💍 1895/1285	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	20 20	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	Registrar's Office	95/2602	Henry Smith, Father; George Edward Noonan, Father	10 September 1895	J. J. Rolleston, Registrar
330	10 September 1895	Horrie Hampton Rayward Isabella Hensley Spein	Henrie Hampton Rayward Isabella Spensley 💍 1895/1284	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Engineer	31 31	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 3 years	St. Michael's Church	95/2619		10 September 1895	Rev. Arch. Cholmondeley, Church of England
331	11 September 1895	William Argyle Griffiths Nellie Ellis Sheppard	William Argyle Griffith Nellie Ellis Sheppard 💍 1895/1292	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier Domestic	31 19	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 1 year	Registrar's Office	95/2603	Charles Sheppard, Father	11 September 1895	J. J. Rolleston, Registrar
332	12 September 1895	William George Blair Julia Dempsey	William George Blair Julia Dempsey 💍 1895/1488	Bachelor Spinster	Coachman Servant	33 25	Christchurch Christchurch	33 years 25 years	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Manchester Street	95/2829		12 September 1895	Roman Catholic
333	14 September 1895	Norman Henry Weight Ellen Grace James	Norman Henry Wight Ellen Ann James 💍 1895/1469	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Domestic	25 20	Christchurch Christchurch	7 months 7 months	House of Rev. W. Birch, Cashel Street	95/2834	William James, Father	14 September 1895	Rev. W. Birch, Baptist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).